From oysters to pearls, and everything in-between.

Florida Seafood Festival

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Happy Hump Day!

This week is heavy on the lifestyle, light on the recipes. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Friday night, Wheat and I headed to the coast. My parents met us there, and we had a late supper at Killer Seafood in Mexico Beach. It was awesome. I had the original Killer tuna tacos, topped with a whole heap o’ slaw. They were, as they say, “killer.” I didn’t get any pictures though, because it was like 9:00 and it was dark and I was tired and really just wanted my birthday beer, okay?

Then we made a pit stop at the Lookout Lounge. I will not include any evidence of this part of the weekend. Suffice it to say, though, that I did not take part in any karaoke and that I, along with everyone else at the bar, was relieved.

Saturday we got an early start and made it to the Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola right as the gates opened at 10:00 a.m.

Our first stop was the first booth: R. J. Oceans, manned by Ross Jones. This may have been one of the coolest “crafts” I’ve ever seen being sold at a festival.

I’d definitely venture to say that this is far beyond a craft. It’s art.

He uses real crustaceans, and they are sealed with a super shiny epoxy resin finish. He builds the backdrops, many to look like real wooden crab traps. That pecky cypress backdrop doesn’t really fit with a dungeness crab from Alaska, but good grief it’s pretty.

My mom ended up coming home with a blue crab (above) and we both brought back a little sand/ghost crab. If you’re interested, Mr. Jones doesn’t have a website or anything, but you can contact him at (h) 352-465-6583 (c) 352-249-6279.

My parents purchased a yellow cassia tree from another booth selling all sorts of plants. It flowers in the fall/winter, and is bright yellow and really pretty.

Then we stumbled upon some hot sauce! Because what’s a seafood festival without some hot sauce?

Sam Solomon’s Sump’n Hot! Gourmet Sauce actually wasn’t very hot. Actually, it wasn’t hot at all. Really! The flavor was awesome and I loved it, but this is me officially requesting Sam to kick it up a notch. Or make an extra hot version for hot sauce lovers like me. Overall though, it’s a really great sauce and I’d definitely buy more. Just not sure I’d call it “hot” sauce. And for the bonus round, it’s made in Quincy, Florida!

The next booth over was the Franklin County Humane Society‘s booth. I was very excited to see a Humane Society booth, since I’m a huge supporter and board member of the Bainbridge-Decatur County Humane Society. And as an avid animal lover and someone who considers themselves to have a sense of humor, I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at the show a couple of the dogs up for adoption were putting on for the crowd.

I die!! I do hope they found (separate) homes!

On a more serious note, please consider making a donation to or becoming a member of your local humane society! The national humane society does not fund your local organizations, and they (and the animals) need all the help they can get!

Back to the tour de seafood festival.

There were rides of all sorts under the bridge, and I’m sure they had great views of the Bay, but we passed on all of them and finished the loop of vendors.

We then stumbled into the food vendor section. I was really impressed with the quality of the food! I realize this shouldn’t be surprising, as it was a seafood festival, but still.

Amiright? It looked awesome, but it was approximately 10:45 and we couldn’t stomach the thought (pun intended) of eating lunch yet. So we took our wares (I also bought a watercolor of the Indian Pass Raw Bar that I’m really excited about, and my mom picked up a pen and ink drawing of the historic Gibson Inn) and headed to downtown Apalach…. which is where I’ll pick up tomorrow so that I don’t bore you to tears. It was a really long day! And although we didn’t stay very long, the Seafood Festival was really great. Some great and interesting vendors, beautiful weather, and excellent food.

Helloooo Mrs. Natalie! So my friend Ashley who actually went to Leon with me – and is now my neighbor here in Atlanta – is Sam Solomon’s daughter! She introduced me to his hot sauce and I love it. I’ve been adding it to bloody marys. I haven’t been to the Apalachicola seafood festival since I was a little kid, so this was a fun recap :) Hope you’re well, welcome to the blogging world!

Thanks! No way! Yeah we have a lot of mutual friends I think through Quincy, too! Small, small world. :) It really is good, but I want an extra hot version! Good call on the bloodies. Hope you’re doing well – it sure looks like you are!

Don’t know if you know it or not, but the yellow cassia is often called a “peanut bush” in southwest Georgia. This is because it blooms during peanut digging season. I have two huge ones in my yard which are in full bloom right now! I just love them! Thanks for sharing your day. We left Carrabelle on Saturday not realizing it was festival time there! Bummmer!

I had no idea that it was called that, but I love it! Thanks for sharing! My parents thought it was a golden rain tree, but apparently those bloom in the spring but are related to the cassia/peanut tree. Hate y’all missed the festival, but hope you had a great weekend in Carrabelle!